Disney World 50th Anniversary Trip Report (Part 8 - Epcot)

Okay that’s a lie. I messed up the park opening time and told Emily to plan for a 10AM open (9:30AM Early Entry), but it was actually all an hour earlier. As a result of my poor planning and some slow buses at Coronado Springs, she wound up at the gate right at 8:30AM at the tail end of the Early Entry pack.

Test Track had a lot of issues, and she wasn’t on until 9:05AM. Even once on, the ride was a broken, slow experience and she was off 9:23AM.

I really wish Disney would proactively offer re-rides to guests who have experiences like she had, with numerous effects broken and the ride clearly in a semi-operable state. We’d never take them because we ride these rides a lot and don’t need to take up anymore seats than we already do, but guests shouldn’t be left with such a bad taste in their mouths.

I supposed it bears reminding here that Test Track has a single rider line, so if you really wanted a re-ride you could use that, but your party would get broken up.

We all reunited at the Test Track exit. Frozen, with a wait of only 25 minutes, would have been an obvious next stop but we’d already ridden it this trip. We also knew our Boarding Group for Remy would be called quickly, and indeed it was at 9:31AM.

Arriving at the France Pavilion at 9:38AM we more or less walked right onto the ride at 9:45AM. We’d forgotten it requires 3D glasses, which Zoe did okay with.

We’ve ridden Remy’s before in Disneyland Paris and the ride was indistinguishable to us (possibly with some language differences). It’s good to have another fun ride for kids in the park. Our feelings are basically that the ride feels like old technology (because it is) that should have been in the park five years ago, but that doesn’t make it a bad addition now.

One issue is that Epcot’s future has been scaled back a bit, so Remy is relatively a larger change to the park than it might have been. The Guardians of the Galaxy Coaster is set to open sometime in 2022, but we still don’t know exactly how much things like the Play Pavilion, Moana water attraction, and Mary Poppins attraction have been scaled back.

Unfortunately, we’re a little bitter because the Remy crowds have invaded the Les Halles bakery, which used to be something of a hidden gem in the morning at Epcot. It was never a secret, to be clear, but without Remy there was little reason to make the walk this way, so it was often a nice place to retreat to after a few rides.

Continuing our morning, after a visit to the Baby Care Center, I rode Soarin’ (15 minute posted, 15 minute actual) while Zoe napped. We opted for lunch at Regal Eagle Smokehouse, starting at 11:57AM right as Zoe woke up.

We’re big fans of Regal Eagle though a lunch stop can be a bit tricky to time given that it’s all the way in the back of the World Showcase (in the American Adventure pavilion). That said, you can always walk a few pavilions out of your way for a good meal.

We headed to Mitsukoshi, the popular store in the Japan Pavilion next. It didn’t open until 1PM (*light groan*), but once it did Zoe had a field day exploring. One lesson of this trip was that Zoe is starting to quickly fall in love with things and absolutely loses control when it’s time to leave. If you saw us today it was either Zoe being adorable in a pavilion or Zoe screaming being carried between pavilions.

Restaurant Marrakech has been transformed into an open seating area. It was pretty empty, a surprise given that Epcot itself, and even the Morocco Pavilion, was busy. This pavilion used to be a good place to escape the crowds, but word of its beauty has spread. Zoe was once again very upset to leave a pavilion.

Around 2PM we stopped in another one of our favorite “hidden” spots, the Appleseed Orchard Food & Wine booth. This “booth” is actually hosted inside the Canada Pavilion theater. Since it’s a small walk from the main World Showcase path it doesn’t get the attention it deserves (in our opinion).

With time for a few rides before nap time, we basically walked right onto Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends before putting Zoe to sleep in The Seas pavilion (after some screaming because it was time to be done watching the fish).

We grabbed some beers from the Belgium pavilion as we walked to the exit, waiting 20 minutes for a bus back to Gran Destino Tower.

A Quick Night Visit to Magic Kingdom

After a quick stop at the hotel to pack, I headed to Magic Kingdom.

As I write this a few weeks later, Magic Kingdom’s new Disney Enchantment firework show is still drawing ridiculous crowds that regularly fill the entire space between the castle and all the way onto the train station. I had secured a decent spot by 8:10PM for the 9PM show, but I couldn’t stand there that long so I gave it up and rode PeopleMover instead.

By 8:48PM Main Street was only accessible from the front of the park, meaning you were rerouted backstage if you were coming from anywhere else. Above is the view from the train station at 8:54PM.

I wound up finding an obstructed view on Main Street, but I still haven’t had a real opportunity to enjoy the show.

Disney had played a message over the PA system asking people not to rush out immediately after the fireworks, so as not to strain their transit. I obliged, leaving the park around 10PM and getting back to Gran Destino Tower at about 10:25PM.

Tomorrow is our last day, with a quick morning at Hollywood Studios Early Entry!